VALUE EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Dr.B.Sree Jahannathan Ph.D.

The aim of this booklet is to highlight various aspects of Human Values and the concept of Value Based Education Programme as introduced by Sri Sathy Sai Baba, a great Indian Saint and the Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Deemed University, Prashanthi Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh. Let us first of all understand the meaning of the word value. Value literally means something precious. In the words of John Dewey, The value means primarily to prize, to esteem, to appraise and to estimate. It means the act of achieving something, holding it and also the act of passing judgment upon the nature and amounts of values are compared with something else. Values are roots of the culture of a nation and guiding principles of life. Values guard the society from degradation of culture. Human Values are related to divine not to the world. Every one of us is well versed with these values. But we apply them in our practical life with less interest. To quote Sri Sathya Sai Baba, What is meant by developing human values? What we should do is to remove the mask covering the values. The values are in fact there, always. Here is the fire. Because you neglect the fire, ash covers it. From where has the ash come? It came out of the fire. The ash that came out of the fire covers the fire altogether. In the same manner, out of divinity has come the world by relationship. That is covering the invaluable divinity. The moment you remove this ash, you will fell this fire. You need not earn the fire independently. It is with in you. Without this fire, there cannot be ash. Like this, divinity is within us. Because of negligence, it gets covered by worldly ash. Removing the mask is the underlying principle to attain the Divine. As Sai Ram explains, we have inbuilt values. But due to the material life that we lead, they are masked by ignorance. A value is a relationship between an individual and the society. In fact values are the pillars of humanity. Values take more significance. We can understand values in regard to both social and individual. Values are based on ethics. Such ethical values are essential to sustain societies and to generate members to the society with moral qualities. Values are classified broadly under two categories.

1. Moral Values 2. Social Values Both of these categories are inter-related, and one cannot exist without the other. Moral values are personal values, supported and guided by spirituality. Personal values are followed out of ones own interest in order to achieve personal and spiritual 1

development while social values are cherished and practice to keep the society in harmony. Let us further list out moral values and social values.

Personal Values:
Most of the personal values are towards the fulfillment of the evolutionary role in man and in life. A man who follows all moral codes becomes human. We can list out the personal values which are moral values based on spirituality. 1) Morality 2) Justice 3) Compassion 4) Sympathy 5) Love 6) Tolerance 7) Equanimity 8) Self - discipline 9) Self - confidence 10) Self control 11) Faith 12) Cleanliness 13) Virtues 14) Duty 15) Simplicity 16) Sublimity 17) Spiritual wisdom, 18) Meditation. Sri Sathya Sai Baba recommends five major ethical codes and they are: 1) Sathya 2) Dharma 3) Shanti 4) Prema 5) Ahimsa Truth Righteousness Peace Love Non - violence

Social Values:
Unlike moral values social values require more than one person to follow. These values are towards community, society, nation and the world. But personal values ingress social values where as social values ingress personal values. These values are external relationships. These are also closely related with spirituality and morality. Social values are historically maintained, rearranged and modified as per the need of the time. Let us list out some of the social values as follows: 1) Freedom 2) Service 3) Sharing 4) Tolerance 5) Patriotism 6) Secularism 7) Equanimity 8) Universal brotherhood and 9) Environmental cleanliness.

Education in Human Values:

Education in Human Values means, imparting a process which inculcates moral, spiritual and social values to the students, while learning at schools or colleges. Value education has the capacity to transform a diseased mind into very young, fresh, innocent, healthy natural and attentive mind. The transformed mind is capable of higher sensitivity and a heightened level of perception. This leads to fulfillment of the evolutionary role in man and in life. Education in human values is based on teachings of moral, ethical and spiritual values which are essential to develop an individuals character. But it does not mean a mechanical teaching and learning but of a deliberate cultivation.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, Education does not consist in mere reading of books or writing them. Nor should education be valued and pursued as a means of securing jobs. Mastering the contents of a book gives secondary knowledge. The goal of the education should be heroic excellence in action, not the accumulation of the information. The educated man must resolve this livelihood through hard toil and instinct effort, through the sweat of his brow; he must have his ideal the full set use of his talents for increasing the prosperity and welfare of his country. He has raised his voice against the regular way of education system which created clerks and managers to maintain the society. He always differentiates book knowledge from the wisdom. The present education system is not enough to develop students with respect to moral values. Morality should not be conditional training to students. Moral education involves both making the students to think morally and behave morally in a natural way. It must be developed to cognitive level. A person who behaves morally knows of the moral values in his actions. Hence, moral education is complicated process of teaching values, to make value oriented and to make them emotionally truthful. Value education is an attempt to develop broad mindedness, tolerance and proper social and emotional qualities. It also develops sincerity and responsibility. It gives a chance to emerge with leadership qualities. Value education aims at training the young in the entire realm of values physical, emotional, intellectual, imaginative, aesthetic, democratic, scientific, social, moral and spiritual - which can be pursued by any individual irrespective of his practice of any religion or no religion at all. Value education does not have any religious barriers. It is common to all religious and in fact most of the values are taken from the famous beliefs of the various religions. Morality and spirituality are the two facts behind Value Education. These two do not require any rituals or ceremonies in which religions differ.

The Objectives of the Education in Human Values Programme:

Real education has to reach man how to live with joy. Man has springs of joy and peace in his heart, even as a child. Cultivate them, give them fullest freedom to gush forth and fertilize all fields of activity that is the real purpose of education. The lessons learned in class rooms are forgotten immediately after the student leaves the door steps, today. We expect our children to learn to earn. But equally important is character. The Human Value programme is designed as a tool for the development of character. It is not a form of dictation to or brainwash of an individual, but rather to offer him a secure base from which he may take his own moral decision.

EHV gives much importance to character. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that character is life. Character is true holiness. Without transforming character, packing the brain with information can only result in damaging it. The qualities of unselfishness and discipline, humility and simplicity must become integral parts of the nature of all the students. The object of the programme is to establish the unifying human values of right conduct, peace, truth, love and non-violence. It is a critical time, today as the world meets with crimes, racism, violence, lack of the self respect, robbery etc., EHV develops programmes to promote values in young people so that they can pave the basements to build a peaceful society of their own in future with the personal and global perspective.

Curriculum of the Programme :

EHV offers guidance to those who have the responsibility of teaching young people. It has the specific objective of contributing physical, mental, emotional, moral and spiritual education through the development of qualities and characteristics such as: 1) Self - confidence, self- esteem and self discipline. 2) Communication and analytical thinking skills. 3) Academic and social skills. 4) A positive regard for the rights, life and dignity of all people. 5) Harmonious living within the environment - at the home, the community, the nation and the world. 6) Increased congruence between positive thoughts, words and actions. 7) Recognition of and participation in the interdependence of the human family globally and 8) Reverence for the unity of life. This helps the children to grow their intelligence as well as wisdom and creates greater awareness. Children by nature are good and willing to obey the elders. They act negatively only because of the poor example of their elders. They have been influenced by T.V. films, videos etc., in other hand, children are under great pressure to score very high marks so as to enter into professional courses. It becomes psychology of children to believe that to be successful means to earn more money and power. They do not have any idea of society or world. EHV is suitable alternative for the immediate quest.

Explanation of the major values: TRUTH (Sathya) :

Truth is spiritual path, if followed by a man, gives him self awareness and great mental strength. He becomes sacred. He then tries to avoid all evils which would corrupt him. As a result of this practice, physical cleanliness, purity of heart, self-respect, selfconfidence, endurance and self-discipline begin to develop within him. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, "Truth is more fundamental than the atom. Every atom and star manifests the truth to those who have the eye of wisdom. What is special nature

of man? If he too lives and dies as an animal, how can his supremacy be justified? His supremacy lies in his capacity to become aware of his truth." Truth is the binding force within all that exists. Truth existed ever before our births and will therefore exist even after the body has perished. It has no time and space with no birth and death. Truth is the one which is divine force inconceivable to human undertaking. It is Ego, which blocks man to realize the light of truth. The Ego is self seeking and promotes only selfishness. "The ego is the fuel to fire our desires. It feeds our whims and fancies and is veracious in its appetite. We can quench the flames of ego only through abstinence and sacrifice. Sri Sai Baba tells us that, "Man's journey is not from untruth to Truth, but from lesser Truth to a higher Truth. Truth is only one that Truth is God. He confirms that the chief activity of man is to investigate truth. The garden of truth can be achieved by two pathways. One is devotion and another is dedication. When there is truth, hearts are saturated with love. There will not be any hidden darkness. We should believe that truth will save us in long run. It has become unavoidable in all middle class families to direct their children to lie to the other side of a telephone call that father is not available. We, the elders, become the poor models for children. EHV holds truth as the first value to be taught to children. The entire world is of dualism. No one can escape from the two hands of dualism. We can read that truth is one; we can say truth is one. But we fail to realize this oneness. There is a way to escape from this dualism. It is nothing but total surrender to God. The awareness of pure consciousness brings truth and oneness. To see two where there is only one, that is delusion or ignorance. The world is always changing. We are the witness for such change. But Truth never changes. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, 'To search for truth is needless. Truth is every place at all times. One must live Truth Not search for it. Truth will be in all creations, because all creations are emerging only form truth in the form of truth. Today we live in multi cultural, multi lingual, and multi religious world. We meet with many religious fanaticism and fundamentalism. The younger generation is of total confusion in following the paths available in front of them, since each one of them claims for its monopoly. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, "My desire is that you should not tamper with or censure other religions. Develop brotherly feelings, with all God is One, there are not may Gods, one for each tribe among men! Love is one; it transcends caste, colour and creed if it has to be genuine. Truth is one; there cannot be two. It is the high time to save our younger generation from the hold of fundamentalists. The only way is to promote EHV from childhood.

There is a famous procedure of spirituality. To bring out the truth is to ask the following questions:1) Who am I? 2) What is the purpose of life? 3) How can I know my inner self / God / the creator of the Universe? 4) How can I live fully in the present moment? Learning to speak truth is the first and best step in the formation of strong character. (Speaking truth fewer words spoil both the speaker and the listener and promotes anti - social behaviour). One lie pulls more and more lies to attach with it. Speaking truth may produce short term pain but will give long term happiness. The path of truth begins with sincerity and continues through the quest for knowledge discrimination, integrity, intuition, trust, optimism, spirit of enquiry, self - awareness and ends at the dawn of truth. Related Values of Truth: Accuracy Curiosity Discernment Fairness Fearlessness Honesty Integrity Intuition Justice Optimism Purity Quest for knowledge Reason Self analysis Self awareness Sincerity Spirit of enquiry Synthesis Trust Truthfulness Determination Unity of thought, word and deed.

RIGHTEOUSNESS: Righteousness can be explained in seven in facets, like seven colours contained in the ray of sun. They are namely Truth, Good character, Righteous conduct, Sense control, Penance, Renunciation and Non - violence. Truthfulness and righteousness are the nature of human being. To attain higher forms of spirituality there are three steps. The first step

is the best conveyed by sacredness, holiness and goodness; the second step by tolerance, patience, forbearance and the third resoluteness, determination, fortitude. One should neither hurt others nor be hurt by other. It is the main aspect of righteousness and is and art of communication using pleasant words without hurting people. The root cause for loss of peace is the neglect of righteousness which is highly indispensable for man. Righteousness is the root of human existence. It is the main fact which could promote peace and unity in the world. Righteousness is something like traffic rules to be followed by every rider of any kind of vehicle on the road to avoid accidents. Sai Ram explains about the kinds of education. They are Dharma Vidhya (Education of righteousness in the world) and Brahma Vidhya (Education related to our conduct in the other world). Righteousness along with other values leads to Brahama Gnana. To quote Sathya Sai Baba, "Those who seek to impart the values of Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa to others must first try to practice themselves who heartedly. To imagine that values can be instilled by teaching only is mistake. Such learning will have no permanent effect. Educationalists must not ignore this fact. If transformation is to be effected in students, the process must start from a very early age". In this explanation, we can very well understand that Sai Babas mission is not in the peripheral level but it has deep roots. He confirms that righteousness is the root of the world. Sai Ram always advises to respect our parents who started our life and brought us to this world to gather the vast and varied treasures of experience. This is the first lesson of righteousness that has to be taught to the children. Sai Baba adds that the first word of the first stanza of Bhagavad-Gita is Dharma and the last stanza is mama. Joined together, message becomes Mama Dharma -meaning My Duty. Righteousness is doing one's duty without anticipating the final result. In this infinite world many species from ant to elephant are there. But, of course, without any doubt, only man has received the light of righteousness and wisdom. It is ridiculous that we forget such great treasure. We are tempted to ignore righteousness due to Ego, and the tendency to accept false values. The wish to satisfy lower desire is the root cause of non-righteousness. Sathya and Dharma are two rails on which the locomotive of the nation runs. When Sathya is given up, chaos prevails. When Dharma is discarded might become right. Righteousness is the major value which promotes when the following related values are also adopted. Related Values of Righteousness: Care of possessions Diet Hygiene Modesty Posture Self - reliance Tidy appearance

(Personal Values)

Good behaviour Good manners Good relationships Helpfulness Not wasting Code of conduct Courage Dependability Duty Efficiency Ingenuity Initiative Perseverance Punctuality Resourcefulness Respect for all Responsibility.

(Social Values)

(Ethical Values)

PEACE : "Shanthi (peace) is a divine attribute. It can be attained only by those who, with patience, perseverance and forbearance, follows the sound path of spirituality", says Sri Sathya Sai Baba. It is the mental peace of every individual which develops as social peace. If the individual's mind is agitating, soon, it will result in the disturbance of peace in the society. Sri Sai Baba advises the individual first to have peace. He asks, "What is the use of searching for quiet, available only in silence of the inner awareness, in the jungle of Nature? It is like for something you have lost in your room under the street lamp. Yourself you have lost; search for it in you, that is the path of wisdom". It is quite clear that without having peace within himself, he cannot develop peace with others. It is practical way to promote harmony between castes, creeds, religions and nations. Everyone wants peace, but they themselves block the way towards it. The removal of hatred from the heart will ensure peace. But men who crave for peace do things which can only bring unhappiness and sorrow. It is only because selfishness. Man thinks that money will bring peace and security. But we never see a rich man being peaceful. Sri Sathya Sai Baba comments, . . . . Peace is not found in the pass book or a bungalow with many rooms or a godown or an iron safe" and says further, "Man should not consider that happiness consists in having houseful of children and equipped with all the amenities for comfortable living. Nor can peace be realized through wealth, power or position. Peace, indeed, is the out come of our actions and thoughts.

It is a value that combines the self and the society in a continuous process that peace dwelling form the heart of an individual will keep his family and fellow man in peace and further result in the social peace. Peace cannot be realized by law and nonviolence. Mother Teresa quoted, 'peace begins with smile'. The inner heart will be exposed in the face. We smile when we are happy and contended. Peace is a state of equilibrium of the emotions. Sai Baba explains that Western Countries consider the interval between two wars as peace. That is not real peace. Sometimes, we achieve peace with threat and that is also not a real peace. Peace should be in our heart always in success, failure, joy and misery, defeat and victory with perfect equanimity. Control of emotions and immediate reactions are important. Peace and joy can be secured only by realizing that they are ones own nature. Discipline of the mind secures peace. Faith in God as oneness is the realization which earns peace. Man always suffers in earthly affairs. Greed is the reason for suffering. No one can get satisfaction with whatever material that he possesses. Desire is the culprit which creates all troubles in life. Desire never ends. Such a man with greed and desire runs after money and earthly pleasures. He has no peaceful time to take rest or to pray or to meditate. But, he needs peace without paying anything. One has to pay and lose greed and desire to get peace. Meditation is concentrating on one thing. Generally three techniques are suggested to attain personal peace. (1) Regulated Breath, (2) Engage in social service, (3) Spiritual Exercise (Sadhana).

Regulated Breath:
Breath should be first inhaled by the left nostril and both nostrils should be then closed keeping the breath in lungs for some time and then exhale through right nostril, closing the left. After this, breath should be inhaled by the right nostril closing the left, kept for some time then exhaled through left, closing the right. Finally inhaling and exhaling should be performed by both nostrils opened. This should be guided by a master and breath intervals must be in a measured manner, watching the symmetry and balance.

Engage in Social Work:

Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, "Serve the diseased, sick and distressed. Undertake to teach a few children who have no one else to care for them. Let your thoughts and activities are selfless and sincere. The itch to communicate to the mind will be healed thereby. You will find that your energies are better utilized in serving your fellow men than in talking with one's wavering mind. It is true that when the mind is engaged in selfless service, the mind will not communicate with us urging requirements. The inner energies will be stored and we will experience inner peace as we do not yield ourselves to any misguidance of the mind.

Spiritual Exercise (Sadhana):

Recitation of mantras is also the best method. He highlights the truths of Gayatri Mantra" and removes all falsehoods regarding the rituals. He also suggests that women can chant Gayatri Mantra, which was banned in earlier systems of Hinduism. Chanting the hymns or practice of some selected yogic postures will also bring peace. To lead a happy and healthy life man needs peace. The values of peace are the important human value to be taught in EHV to children by suitable techniques, like all other four values.

The Related Values of Peace:

Attention Calm Concentration Contentment Dignity Discipline Equality Equanimity Faithfulness Focus Gratitude Happiness Harmony Humility Inner silence Optimism Patience Reflection Satisfaction Self-acceptance Self-confidence Self-control Self-discipline Self - esteem Self - respect Sense control Surrender Understanding Virtue

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LOVE :
Love is the message which can be expressed only through love. Loveless mind is the root of anarchy that stalks the world today. The main teaching of Sai is Love. He advises his devotees to preach only his message of Love. He himself declares that message is only one and it is love. "Embodiments of Love! Do not seek to find differences between one person and another. Seek rather ways and means to strengthen the bonds of Kinship, through love. Factions and fighting emerge among the followers of the same family because they have not learned to Love. From the self same mind, many conflicting feelings emerge. Why? Love has not been nursed and grown therein" says Sathya Sai Baba. Universal love begins from individual Love. "Let all the people of the world be happy". (Loka Samastha Sukino Bavanthu) is the benediction of Sri Sathya Sai Organization. It is Love, Truth and Virtue, the eagerness to progress, to serve, to expand one's heart, to take in the whole humanity in one's love, to see all forms of the Divine Consciousness. It is only love which can remove egoism. Love must transform all relationships - Social, Economic, Educational, Professional and Family, Religious, Legal and others. In regard to EHV, love is the basic concept to be built up. One must expand his love as much wide as possible. One can get real peace and joy in the total and complete Love. If there is no love, there is no peace. All these human value concepts viz., truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence, are interlinked in such a way to promote world harmony. When love is directed towards God, it becomes Pure, Permanent, True, Unselfish, beyond Time and Space. Love is Divine for ever. Transcendence is possible only through love. Human love is usually turned towards worldly pursuits. But, there is a way to transform our activities into pure love, through service. Love can be purified when one engage himself in selfless service. Love is the value which connects all the other four and it is basis of EHV. Action with love is righteousness. Speech with love is truth. Thinking with love produces peace. Understanding with love leads to nonviolence. Mind is energized with love. If the mind loses selfishness, love flows. It is proved scientifically that even plants bend towards love. Spontaneous love is the mother of all other four values. Children grow up healthy with sound mind loses selfishness, love flows. It is proved scientifically that even plants bend towards love. Spontaneous love is the mother of all other four values. Children grow up healthy with sound mind when nursed with love. The Related Values with Love: Acceptance Affection Care Compassion

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Consideration Dedication Devotion Empathy Forbearance Forgiveness Friendship Generosity Gentleness Humanness Interdependence Kindness Patience Patriotism Reverence Sacrifice Selflessness Service Sharing Sympathy Thoughtfulness Tolerance Trust

Non - Violence:
Non - violence (Ahimsa) is the value which is part and parcel of Love. The love emerging from the individual's heart and spreading towards the entire world never hurts any one. Love finds its value in non-violence. Where love prevails, there is no room for doing harm or violence to others. All forms of life existing in this world have their rights to live. No one should take others life for their own selfishness by way of violence. It is the animal character to steal others bread using violence. No justice can be attained through violence. Violence is the important reason for disharmony among people and it leads to destruction. It is the cause of some arrogant minds which effects hundreds of innocent beings. Eradication of anger, malice, greed and envy are the aims of EHV. Non - violence or Ahimsa is extolled as Paramo Dharma the supremacy of man kind. All other four spiritual values are mainly subjective in their implications, while non-violence relates to the individual's social obligations and to his general attitude towards the world. Bhagavad-Gita says, "He who identifies himself with all everywhere and identifies his own pleasure and pain with pleasure and pains of all beings - he, indeed is the Yogi of the highest order".

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It is not true that non-violence means avoiding physical injury to a living being. We should not cause hurt even by word, look or gesture. Even bad thoughts or bad hearing or bad talk is violence. Today, we see that many of our entertainments in T.V., cinema or others are based on violence. It gives a cruel mental satisfaction to the viewer and it induces even a righteous person to become violent. Violence is immediate poison which can ruin the entire humanity. Even scientific advancements produce more and more weapons to destroy country, not knowing such deed will slowly kill the doer also. Now children are provided with pay guns, dressed with the uniforms of militants. This practice sows the seeds of violence in their tender hearts. EHV gives much importance to cultivate non-violence among children. Compassion is the related value which can produce non-violence. Children see their elders as models and if they act violently in front of them, children get psychological shock and slowly they justify the act for them too. Husband and wife and mother - in -law and daughter - in - law quarrels are seemed to be petty issues. But, they spoil the children's psycho frame. "It is the highest achievement of human living encompassing respect for all life living in harmony with nature, not hurting by thought, word or deed. EHV recognizes two aspects of non-violence. One is psychological and another is social. It is understood that only psychological peace could result in social peace. One should first love himself, then his family, then society and then the feeling of the unity of all occurs. Non-violence results in feeling oneness of the globe and love for all equally living in it. For the person who adopts non-violence, the whole world is his own family. Sri Sathya Sai Baba takes the one word WATCH and he links each alphabet to another value as: Watch Watch Watch Watch Watch your your your your you Words Actions Thoughts Character Heart

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The Related Values with Values with Non - violence: Psychological Values:
Benevolence Compassion Concern for others Consideration Co-operation Forbearance Forgiveness Good manners Happiness Loyalty Morality Universal Love

Social values:
Appreciation of others Cultures and religions Brother / sisterhood Care of the environment Citizenship Equality Harmlessness National awareness Respect for prosperity Social Justice.

The Role of the Teacher

Teachers should believe that engaging themselves as teachers of Value Education is a noble and sacred task. Their profession involves personal and social reformation. Value Education is like an ocean and the secular sciences like physics, chemistry and Botany etc., The River of secular learning should merge with the ocean of value learning. This will bring unity in diversity, which can achieve only with the role of teachers. It is not true that a teacher who teaches physics or computer science has no connection with value education. All the teachers should insist upon values simultaneously with their regular chapters. Every class should for receiving more affection. The ethical question is a common problem for all, from history to genome research. Discussions about human values should be allowed in the beginning, middle or end of the class irrespective of the subject. Teachers should encourage their students to conduct some group activities related to their subjects. The pupils divided into groups

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could involve in creative activities, to develop their leadership qualities. Value education can help with many problems such as * * * Parent - Student relationship Teacher - Student relationship Ethical and moral problems in and outside the campus.

As like as the integrated action of the organs of the physical body the individual in a society should unite. Education and training should be received with intelligent cooperation and service. Education should aim at the student to gain awareness of the Divinity inherent in him and others. The in-depth meaning of awareness can be elaborated as self-confidence, self-satisfaction, self-sacrifice and self-realization. This aim can be achieved only by the teachers with sense of duty and spirit of love as transmission. Students should respect the role of the teachers for worship, next to their parents. To quote Sai Ram, "The pot that pours and the pot that receives have to be steady and straight, eager to give and gain. If the teacher has the responsibility to inspire and illumine, the student has the responsibility to respond to the Love and Light, discarding the contrary thoughts." The teacher should uphold 'higher life' as the aim of the students to achieve. The higher life is attained through the cultivation of the five cardinal values viz, Truth, Right Conduct, Love, Peace and Non-Violence and the final goal is the enfoldment of Divinity which is the reality. "The teacher has to watch every word and gesture of his every action and reaction of his, in order to avoid any infringement of these virtues." The teacher plays a vital role in building good character of the students. The prior need for this action is the personal cultivation of character and to elevate as an example. Teaching is the noblest profession of all and the teachers have the greatest role in molding the future of the country. It is true that students score less marks if the teachers harass them with anger for their mistakes. If the teachers treat their students with love and affection they become fearless and achieve best results in the studies and character development. "A teacher who loves and kind, who is patient and filled with humility, will play a very vital part in building good character of the students." "Do not get angry or upset when the child does not respond quickly or correctly. Repeat the instruction again and again. . . . Learn to keep your emotions and senses under control. . . . Keep them calm and always. When we are ourselves the slaves of our senses, how can the pupil be led by us into the right path?

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Teachers should become as the role models for their students. Discipline is the most important value that has to be maintained by the teachers. Let us conclude this book let by remembering the words of Sai Ram, "Teachers are the Sun which encourages the lotus buds to bloom and scatter fragrance. Their conduct and counsel are the rays which unfold the virtues and talents latent in the hearts of the leaders of tomorrow. Teachers have to fill their own hearts with good thoughts, good ideals, yearning for good deeds and devotion to God. When their hearts are reservoirs of these qualities, the taps, when opened, offer these only and children, who slake their thirst at the taps, are inspired to be likewise. Students need study only for a few years, but the teacher has to keep on studying for years and years, in order to be an efficient Guru. When one lamp has its flame steady and bright, hundreds of lamps can be lit there from." This is a divine call for the reformation of the education system as the value based education and the great responsibility is in the hands of teachers.

Written by: Dr.B.Sree Jahannathan Ph.D.@ Sri Jagannatha Swami sreejahannathan@yahoo.com

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